DAILY MANIFESTO

Japan Agrees With Me About Famitsu's Questionable Reviews, And I Love It

Posted on Thursday, March 8 @ 06:17:00 Eastern by Heath_Hindman

A while back, I wrote this.

Then, Japanese forum 2chan found it and wrote a bunch of comments, most of which agree with the article. Like me, they find it baffling that anyone -- especially foreigners -- would place so much stock in Famitsu reviews. Dig the English translation of the comments here.

But of course, I want to make it clear to my Japanese brethren that the point of the article was not mere Famitsu bashing (which was fun, admittedely), but bashing the people who foolishly make purchase decisions based on those reviews and cite them in arguments like they mean something. Not all of them seemed to understand the real point of the article, and its summary that they saw did not do it justice.

This is my open letter to the gamers on 2chan (with original Japanese lines below):

Dear 2chan,
2chへ,

Thank you for reading my article on GameRevolution.com
僕のgamerevolution.comのブログを読んでくれてありがとう。

I appreciate all of your many comments.
沢山のコメント感謝します。

Since it was in English, you may have missed its main point.
英語なので、思い違いをしているかもしれない。

It was not just criticizing Famitsu's reviews to attack Famitsu, but to show the West why Famitsu's reviews are not important.
実は、ファミツの批評じゃなくて、ファミツを崇拝するアメリカ人を批判したんだよ。

English speakers who do not speak Japanese can only see the high numbers. They think "Wow, it's a high score from a famous magazine! I should buy that game!"
日本語の分からないバカな外国人はレビューのスコアしか見ていないから、「こ
れは有名な雑誌だから信じなきゃ！買わなきゃ！」と思ってるんだね。

I wanted to show Americans that a Famitsu high score is not special.
ファミツのスコアは、時々なんの意味もない。

Thank you.
ご拝読誠にありがとう。僕の父は、5才の時に、熊に食われてしまったんだ。
だから、いつも熊と戦っている。もし熊がこのウエブサイトを読んだら、確実に
死ぬね。お前は熊だろう？気をつけな。警察に電話をして。どうでもいいけ
ど。

(上に、アメリカの冗談だ。)
宜しく。

Tags: japan

Comments

Bras
Joined: Jul 2008

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 7:34 am
I don't understand half of what that letter says.

0 0

Bras
Joined: Jul 2008

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 7:44 am
And I'm not really sure about the last paragraph, but to the best of my understanding, it says:

"Thank you for your Haidoku indeed. My father, at the age of five, I had been eaten by the bear.
So you have always fought with a bear. After reading the web site bear this, then surely
I die. You will bear? Do not care. Call the police. Only cares.
Etc"

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Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Mar 9th, 2012 at 7:36 am
You don't understand half?
It's all got English translation right above the Japanese. ;)

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OdiousLupous
Joined: Jul 2011

Posted: Mar 10th, 2012 at 8:10 am
3 lines of characters for thank you? No wonder they just bow in person, hell of a lot easier.

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Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Mar 11th, 2012 at 1:45 am
Well there's a heartfelt speech in that last part, exclusive to the Japanese audience.

...About bears.

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mrallamericanboy
Joined: Jun 2006

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 8:01 am
yeah i missing about half the words in this reply letter too... however, i do enjoy your usage of "the West".

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WILLS_COOL_MODE
Joined: Oct 2010

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
I thought his usage of "the" in general was pretty flawless.

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tinymhg
Joined: Jun 2011

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
Japan agreeing with you that aught to boost your already high opinion of yourself, Heath.

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Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
I know! At first I thought there was nothing in the world that could make me more awesome but then this happened. I can't imagine how hard it must be for other people to try and become this amazing.

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
You had me at "名無

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 1:41 pm
名無

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213EDD
Joined: Sep 2007

Posted: Mar 8th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
WTF! 名無

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Chunibrow
Joined: Mar 2010

Posted: Mar 9th, 2012 at 11:01 am
Walk away from the keyboard...

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sli
Joined: Mar 2012

Posted: Mar 11th, 2012 at 6:09 am
「バカな

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Heath_Hindman
Joined: May 2011

Posted: Mar 12th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
と言ったね。

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